David Menzies and Sue Ann Levy dissect Toronto’s June 26, 2023, mayoral by-election, where Olivia Chow won 37.17% despite union backing and media support, while Anna Bailau placed second with 8.58%. Chow’s socialist policies—like bike lanes and safe injection sites—risk worsening gridlock and crime, mirroring Portland’s decline under progressive governance. John Torrey’s resignation over an affair and COVID-era hypocrisy cost the city $13M, aiding Chow’s victory. Low turnout (38%) highlights voter apathy, but Anthony Fury’s campaign suggests a 2026 backlash against Toronto’s leftward drift could unite opposition forces. [Automatically generated summary]
Tonight, post-Toronto Meralty race, there are winners and there are losers.
The big winner, Comrade Olivia Chow, the big loser, the city of Toronto and Conservatives.
It's Thursday, June 29th, 2023.
I'm David Menzies, and this is The Ezra Levent Show.
Shame on you, you censorious bug.
As with any election, such as last Monday's Toronto mayoralty by-election, there are winners, and there are losers.
Obviously, the ultimate winner on Monday was Comrade Olivia Chow, garnering 37.17% of the vote.
Alas, my feeling is that the ultimate loser is, well, the city of Toronto, which might end up being unrecognizable under three years of Chow's rule, but more on that later.
The other losers, of course, are all those who finish below Chow, and that is a list comprised of a staggering 101 candidates.
Sorry, folks, I almost said 101 Dalmatians there.
Please forgive me, especially given that one of the candidates was actually a dog, Molly, who belongs to Toby Heaps.
Just imagine finishing behind a canine and 83 human candidates don't have to imagine that because they did actually finish behind that mutt.
That's a list that even includes Selena Caesar Chavanis, who was once upon a time a liberal member of parliament.
Remember her?
Check out this classic encounter she had with my former colleague, Kian Bexty.
Until he gets your office.
No, we could, we could, you could keep going.
You could keep going.
I just, I really have nothing good to say to the rebel.
So I'm not sure why you're entertaining this line of questioning, but go ahead.
Just wondering if you forgive someone who verbally assaulted you.
Anyways, how are you done?
Thanks for chatting with you.
Are you done?
Oh, the big guys here are you done.
I mean, I can keep coming.
Did you just call me a pussy?
Ouch rhymes with which, but at least she did stand up to Prime Minister Blackface later on.
Two candidates, Jack Wienan and Daniel Urmya, finished second last and dead last with 30 votes and 27 votes, respectively.
You know what that works out to in terms of voter percentage, folks?
0.0.
That's right, getting less than 38 votes in a field of 1.9 million eligible voters.
Well, that doesn't even qualify as a rounding error, folks.
And poor Mr. Emra, do you reckon he's still dwelling on the fact that if he had only garnered four more votes, he would have overtaken Mr. Weenan for 101st place as opposed to settling for 102nd place.
Oh, this election was such a joke, wasn't it?
Little wonder stand-up comedian Ben Bankus decided to run.
And the funny man received 203 votes for those keeping score at home.
And I think the question that we have right now, and now is the time for choosing, is whether or not people want Toronto to continue this sort of decline direction it's heading in like Seattle, downtown Vancouver.
And if you'd like that, I guess vote for Ms. Chow, or can we fix this?
Can we turn this around?
And running as someone who, you know, I know the issues, I know the files, but I'm something of an outsider.
I believe I'm the guy to step in and shake things up just enough to make the streets safer, better, more affordable for all Toronto families.
But back to Chow, who was indeed successful in securing the mayor's chair in a campaign that was seemingly modeled after Joe Biden's successful presidential run in 2020, which is to say, Chow did not have many press events, and seldom did she take questions after debates.
I went to several debates to scrum her outside the venue, but she was like Batman.
I never saw her enter or exit the studio.
It was amazing.
But apparently, name recognition and having the backing of several unions was good enough for the leftist Chow to become mayor, receiving about 34,000 votes more than the second place finisher, that would be Anna Bailau.
Then again, most of the lame stream media folk are no doubt happy with that result too.
They are cheerleaders for the likes of Biden and Chow.
Barely a media report went by without noting that Olivia was the daughter of impoverished immigrants coming to Canada for a better life, which is true, but lost in that narrative was how Chow and her late husband, former NDP leader Jack Layton, actually lived in subsidized housing in Toronto in the early 90s, even though both of them were making six-figure salaries.
Oh, by the way, don't get the wrong idea, folks.
Chow is not adverse to spending money.
She loves spending tax dollars.
Residents of Hogtown, especially those who own homes, better brace themselves for what is to come in the months ahead.
But again, while Chow is the big winner, I fear my beloved hometown of Toronto is the big loser.
In addition to huge property tax hikes, Torontonians can likely expect even more gridlock with Chow's plan to add some extra 200 kilometers of bike lanes.
In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Chow, who actually brags about not having a driver's license, will put bike lanes on the Gardner Expressway if she doesn't tear it down, that is, which was one of her campaign promises.
Torontonians can also expect more so-called safe injection sites.
And Chow will most likely turn a blind eye to parks becoming encampments for hobos, misfits, and various social justice warriors.
Remember that sordid scene we encountered in the summer of 2020 when Dufferin Grove Park was occupied by, well, lunatics.
Portland's Meltdown00:03:25
Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am.
I'm just reading your breasts.
What does that say exactly?
It says no justice, no peace.
No justice, no peace.
No justice, no peace.
It's not on behalf of anybody else.
It's not necessarily helping the situation because they want to hear because I trigger you.
Get out of here.
Get out.
Get out.
Get out of my face.
Get out of my face.
Get the f**k out of my face!
If you have white skin, you're always occupying every f**king space in this f**king street!
Because you're a coward.
Because you're a coward.
Because you don't want to answer a question.
You're in my face.
Excuse me?
That's extremely effective.
You are the reason people are out here.
What the f is wrong with you?
You know, I truly fear that under Chow, Toronto has the potential to become Portland North.
Have you been to Portland lately?
Check out this excerpt from a CBN news report entitled Portland's Meltdown, a progressive experiment that has gone colossally bad.
This report depicts post-World War II Portland, when it truly took off as the West Coast embodiment of the American dream.
But today, because of ultra-leftists, actually make that Marxists, the city of Portland is now an American nightmare.
Portland, Oregon, one of the nation's most beautiful cities.
The citizens of Portland attend many fine churches.
It is a family town.
A good place to bring up children.
In Portland today, a viral video shows a man using drugs in front of a child.
Just last week, a man beat someone with a golf club in front of this Portland restaurant.
The nervous owners then offered the attacker hot coffee, which he dumped on the victim.
79% of businesses surveyed in Portland have been victims of vandalism or break-ins.
19% have been vandalized at least five times.
Our business has been vandalized over half a dozen times.
We've had five burglaries in our business.
We've had over $100,000 worth of impact.
Walmart and Cracker Barrel are part of a wave of businesses that have fled the city.
More than 2,600 downtown businesses have left.
Is this Toronto's fate under its new mayor?
Please, Ms. Chow, prove that my fears are unfounded.
Indeed, Toronto is already bad enough in the here and now.
The city of my birth was described by Peter Ustinoff in 1987 as New York run by the Swiss.
Today's version of Hogtown is no longer the Toronto Mr. Ustinoff lauded in bygone days.
And indeed, what are the priorities of Toronto City Council today in terms of setting things right?
How about, oh, I don't know, spending tens of millions of dollars to rename Dundas Street in order to send a woke message against imperialism and or colonialism?
Oh, to own a DeLorean DMC-12 with that Uber Rare flux capacitor option.
Toronto's Decline00:02:36
Of course, Olivia Chow has been out of politics for many years.
She's not responsible for the Toronto of today.
That dubious achievement award belongs to one of the biggest losers in the history of Canadian politics, namely the fake conservative that is John Torrey.
Torrey resigned in February because it turned out he was having an extramarital affair with City Hall staffer Emily Hillstrom.
Yeah, so much for the Me Too movement, eh?
Personally, I think Tory cheating on his wife was a sidebar issue in this scandal.
Torrey's biggest sin, rather, was the hypocrisy he displayed during the COVID-19 years.
You recall the drill, folks.
We were all ordered to wear useless face diapers.
Mom-paw businesses were told to close their doors or endure a visit from all the king's horses and all the king's men.
But not the big guys ranging from Walmart to the LCBO, mind you.
Science, you see, or maybe it was a matter of membership has its privileges, as the old American Express tagline used to go.
And of course, we were endlessly told to socially distance, you know, stand two meters away from one another to avoid the transmission of those COVID cooties.
And then there were those ridiculous COVID-19 circles spray painted by the city on grassy parkland.
Hey, kids, don't violate circle etiquette or you'll receive an $880 fine.
And Mayor Tory, like all the other Pfizer cheerleaders out there, constantly urged one and all, even children, to get the experimental vaccine.
In some cases, you had to get the jab or, well, lose your job.
The ostensible policy reason for all this temporary tyranny, well, it was all about ensuring public safety.
Public safety comes first, after all.
And yet, during this timeline, John Torrey himself was horizontally jogging with Hillstrom, who, by the way, is some 37 years his junior.
Hey, I guess the heart wants what the heart wants.
But can someone please explain how social distancing is achieved when, you know, you are so close to a subordinate that the end result is the exchange of bodily fluids?
Why Did I Leave the PCs?00:16:24
What a disgrace.
Torrey ruined lives with his mandates, and yet he turned out to be the biggest COVID-19 etiquette violator of them all.
And naturally, Torre broke his promise not to interfere with the by-election when he officially endorsed Anna Bailau, who did come close to winning, but alas, an election is not nuclear war or a game of horseshoes, so coming close is downright meaningless.
So nice try, Anna and John.
It reminds me of the sales contest depicted in the classic movie Glen Gary Glen Ross.
The winner is to receive a Cadillac Eldorado, the second place finisher, a set of steak knives.
Then again, one best not give Bailau the keys to any kind of vehicle.
She's a convicted drunk driver, after all.
Oh, cheap shot, you're saying?
I don't think so.
Bailau and her useful idiots in the media made great fun of the addiction issues that plagued Toronto's last effective mayor, that being the late, great Rob Ford.
The thing is, I don't ever recall Ford getting behind the wheel drunk as a skunk.
Naturally, Bailau's love of wine never came up during her Meryl run.
She's one of the elites, you see.
No insensitive nor impolite questions for dear Anna, who I imagine is still crying in her Chardonnay given the election results of Monday.
At least let's all pray that she now has an Uber account.
Another loser from Monday is that perennial political loser, sneaky Patrick Brown.
If Brown were a fictional character, I think he would be anti-King Midas, for everything this guy touches turns to shite.
Case in point, what in blue hell was the sneaky one during that Ford Fest last Friday?
Brown hates Ford.
Ford took what was going to be Patrick's job as premier of the province in 2018.
Well, Brown was most likely there because we were tipped off to the fact that Brown and his number one stooge, Babu, were essentially ballot harvesting, getting Toronto's Tamil community to come out and vote for ex-Toronto police chief Mark Saunders.
I tried to get answers from Brown last Friday, but he played dumb, which I suspect comes quite naturally to him.
We are your henchmen campaigning for Mark Saunders.
We are the medicine.
Mayor Brown, where is the Scarborough Boiler Room for the Tamil voters?
How you doing?
How are you very good, sir?
Why are you supporting Mark Saunders?
We're not involved in the Toronto election.
What's that?
I'm not involved in the Toronto election.
Yeah, I know.
I can't connect the dots.
What is that?
Where is Baboo?
Has he taken a paid leave of absence from the city to work on the campaign?
What's your name?
Babu.
My name is David Menzie.
So, David.
Yes.
Babu's not involved in it, Kimmy.
What's that?
Baboo's not even in the country.
Oh, okay.
That doesn't tough.
Well, where's the boiler room, man?
Unbelievable.
Saunders, by the way, was also Premier Doug Ford's choice, even though Ford, like Tori, previously said he would not endorse anyone for mayor.
But then again, they don't call Dougie flip forward for nothing.
By the way, Saunders finished a distant third on Monday.
You want to know another big winner that emerged on Election Day?
That would be apathy.
Only 38% of Torontonians chose to cast a ballot.
That was actually a 9% increase compared to the turnout at Toronto's municipal election last fall, in which a dismal 29% of citizens showed up.
I don't get that.
I don't get how people are not motivated to vote for those who will be directly affecting their lives.
It reminds me of that lyric from the Jackson Brown song, Lawyers in Love.
Yeah, too many people fall into this category, I think, watching sitcoms and eating junk food, all the while completely oblivious to the world around them.
And by the way, for all of you who habitually do not vote, yet then go on to complain about everything the government does that affects your lives.
I'm speaking about not fixing potholes to implementing carbon taxes.
Well, allow me to present one of Dwayne Johnson's best lines.
As you sit your ass at that announcement booth, you take off your headset and you don't say a word.
And I quote, you know, your damn role and shut your damn mouth.
Now, that's my idea of political analysis.
Yet it should be noted: voter apathy is not merely a municipal phenomenon.
Consider last year's provincial election in Ontario.
You know, the June election that delivered the Ford PCs a so-called super majority.
Well, crunch the numbers and you'll find that only 17% of Ontarians actually voted for the PCs, some supermajority.
Full disclosure, in the past two provincial and federal elections, I did not vote for the provincial progressive conservatives nor the federal conservatives.
Friends asked me, why did I abandon the PCs and the conservatives?
And I tell them nothing could be further from the truth, for it was these political parties who abandoned me.
Case in point, my spidey senses were tingling mightily back in 2018 when Doug Ford was newly installed as the head of the PCs.
That's because he dropped Tanya Granick Allen as a PC candidate.
It was a scathing betrayal.
Tanya was Ford's kingmaker, after all.
At the PC convention, she steered her votes toward Ford, paving the path for his victory.
She should have been installed as a cabinet minister in the government that would come later.
Instead, some ancient insensitive tweets that the left branded as Islamophobic emerged.
And Ford, who once spoke out against cancel culture, well, he now embraces cancel culture.
And he continues to embrace it, folks.
Look at the cancel culture existing right now on the lawns of Queen's Park, where the Sir John A. MacDonald statue remains entombed in a makeshift coffin with a garbage bag wrapped around his head, just in case the sight of our first prime minister triggers unhinged members of Antifa or Black Lives Matter.
But with Granik Allen, not only did Ford show that he was suddenly down with cancel culture, but that the premier was an utter hypocrite.
Check out the social media postings of the current PC MPP for Carlton.
That would be Goldie Gameri.
She used to post rancid, hateful messages on social media under the alias, the Persian cat.
For example, quote, Jesus was just another human like you and me.
He died and became worm food.
So get over it and stop advertising your religion.
It's gay, end quote.
Hmm.
Jesus is worm food and Christianity is gay.
Golly, I wonder what the political fallout would be if one were to replace Jesus with Muhammad and Christianity with Islam.
And would the PC party still be going to bat for Miss Gameri in such a scenario?
But as our head honcho cherry cheesecake eating enthusiast proved endlessly during the pandemic, it's apparently one rule for thee and one rule for me.
A key plank of the PCs was to undo the grotesque sex ed curriculum of the McGuinty Wynne liberals.
Instead, under Ontario's milquetoast Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce, the sex ed component has become immeasurably worse.
We now have drag queen performances at schools and even pornography in school libraries with books featuring themes ranging from pedophilia to incest.
And if you dare don a t-shirt proclaiming there are only two genders, well, as a student, you'll be suspended.
Meanwhile, several boards now routinely lock out parents from attending school board meetings.
The question arises, is Lecce too scared to do anything?
Or does he actually approve of such radicalism?
What a fraud.
What a sellout.
And really, folks, what is one to think of this supposed conservative government?
After all, Ford himself turned on the grassroots members of Ford Nation during the pandemic, calling them a bunch of Yahoos, merely for standing up to draconian mandates that were taking away their freedoms, not to mention their livelihoods.
Mind you, business was booming at Ford's Deco Labos company, for there was such great demand for all those COVID-19 warning signs and those floor arrows during the coronavirus hysteria.
Still, one thing has become crystal clear these past five years, contrary to popular belief, Doug Ford is not Rob Ford.
Rob was genuine while Doug is so giddy to be Premier that he is totally willing to be led around by the nose by those in his inner circle who are actually liberals in conservative clothing.
Suffice to say, count me among the 83% of Ontarians who are not buying what the Ford PCs are selling.
As for the Federal Conservative Party of Canada, what did we see happen these past two federal elections?
Well, Andrew Scheer is a nice guy, and we all know where nice guys finish, especially when handlers tell them to shun the independent press while embracing the mainstream media, which, of course, hates the Conservative Party.
I'm by winning.
I win here and I win there.
Now what?
But Mr. Scheer resembles Sir Winston Churchill compared to Aaron O'Toole, the man who would have been Prime Minister had he stayed the course in the 2021 federal election, as opposed to doing a colossal flip-flop midway through the campaign, suddenly professing his love for carbon taxes and a gun grab.
O'Toole's legacy is condemning Canada to be lorded over by blackface for several more years.
That's it.
O'Toole did his farewell tour last week, apparently seeking affirmation from anyone who would listen that he was a great leader of the opposition.
Good riddance, you pathetic lying loser.
Speaking of losers, I have one more for my list.
And you're looking at him.
It's me.
For perhaps someone like me in Canada in this year of 2023 is indeed a total loser, someone who supports conservative values, someone who wants a leader who says what he means and means what he says.
But maybe Canada, when it comes to the municipal, provincial, and federal levels, well, maybe it's moved on.
Maybe the indoctrination tactics embraced by the education system and the public sector unions and the mainstream media, well, maybe it's resulted in an electorate that has now been conditioned to vote left.
Maybe someone such as yours truly is about as relevant as a dinosaur on the brink of an ice age.
My beloved city has a Marxist mayor.
The province is ruled by progressive conservatives who are far more progressive than they are conservative.
As for the federal government under the blackface liberals, well, it's an Orwellian farce, isn't it?
Indeed, is that our choice today?
At least for those who reside in Eastern Canada?
Choosing between the far left or leftists pretending to be conservatives?
I feel utterly abandoned and obsolete.
Indeed, pop culture nerd that I am, I think of that great scene from The Dark Knight Rises in which Commissioner Gordon tries to convince detective John Blake to reconsider his resignation from the Gotham City Police Department.
But Blake, well, he remains so utterly disillusioned by the inherent corruption of the system that changing his mind is now an impossibility.
Can I change your mind about quitting the force?
You know what you said about structures becoming shackles.
You were right, and I can't take it to injustice.
Still, hope, as always, abounds.
The current conservative leader, Pierre Polyev, is certainly saying all the right things, be it defunding the CBC, or standing up for gun owners' rights, or promising to axe the carbon tax.
Will he follow through on those promises should he become leader, or will he do a no-tool?
Well, we shall see.
Polyev committed a terrible fumble a few months ago when he unfairly denounced German politician and freedom fighter Christine Anderson.
Hey, the not-so-dynamic duo of liberal dirty trickster Warren Kinsella and the disgraceful Brian Lilly.
Well, evidently, they convinced the conservative leader to smear Anderson, and he inexplicably abided.
Meanwhile, earlier this month, Blackface was shaking hands with a bona fide Holocaust denier overseas, something the train seals and the mainstream media chose to completely ignore.
Regime Change Crisis00:16:26
I know many freedom fighters abandoned Polyev over the Anderson fiasco in the months leading up to the next federal election.
Can Polyev win these people back?
Again, we shall see.
In the final analysis, I guess my point is this.
Whether the next federal election is later this year or next year or in 2025, if there is not regime change in Canada, I fear our nation is truly lost.
Can we really afford to have a Marxist in power in Ontario's largest city and a phony conservative running Canada's largest province?
And yet another term for the scandal-plagued liberals running what's left of our great dominion?
Because should the blackface tyranny continue as we head into the next decade, I truly believe people like me are indeed contemporary dinosaurs, people who really need to plan our exit strategies.
Bottom line, Costa Rica is looking pretty good these days.
Well, folks, last Monday's Toronto mayoralty by-election, that was an election like no other.
With a staggering 102 candidates vying for the mayor's chair, well, like any election, there are winners and there are losers.
The big winner, of course, is Olivia Chow for prevailing.
But one must wonder, given Olivia Chow's socialist leanings, given her tax and spend ways, is the big loser the city of Toronto itself.
And joining me now from True North is the former Toronto Sun columnist for many decades who covered City Hall brilliantly, and that would be Sue Ann Levy.
Sue Ann, thanks so much for your time today.
Oh, you're welcome, Dave.
Okay.
Well, I guess, Sue Anne, the first thing is, with Monday's result, did that come as a surprise to you?
No, actually, what came as a surprise to me was Ana Bayo's, the fact that she did so well and that for a while, I would say probably a half an hour when the results came in, I thought she was going to win.
And, you know, although I'm not a huge fan of Ana Bayo, she would have been a heck of a lot better than Olivia Chow.
So then Olivia pulled ahead, sadly.
And you're right.
You're right about Toronto.
It's the big loser.
I think so.
And you know what, Sue Anne?
I hope Olivia Chow proves me wrong.
I hope we don't see some of the predictions emerge of people saying, get ready for Toronto becoming Portland North.
But we know how she leans.
I mean, she's all about more so-called safe injection sites.
We know she won't do anything about homeless people camping in public parks.
She brags about not having a driver's license.
So get ready for yet more bike lanes, i.e. more congestion.
Or, Sue Ann, is there a surprise here?
Is she going to be more moderate than we think she shall be?
No, I don't think for a minute she will be.
She promised during the campaign, one of the few promises that she actually managed to etch out.
She promised 200 kilometers more bike lanes in the next, well, she said four years, but actually the term is three years.
And she didn't mention one word about crime in her whole platform.
So it's like crime doesn't exist in Toronto while it escalates.
Fueled, I believe, by the drug trade.
She's a strong proponent of safe injection sites, as you said, and a strong proponent of enabling, you know, the lawless to remain lawless.
She hates the police.
And I really fear for the city going forward.
You know, Sue Ann, 200 more kilometers of bike lanes?
I mean, where's she going to put some of those bike lanes on the Gardner Expressway?
Oops, I forgot.
She also promised she's going to tear that down to even further add to gridlock.
So really, Sue Ann, what happened here?
I know Olivia Chow has name recognition.
I know all the unions got behind her.
Or maybe are people like you and I who lean right, are we contemporary dinosaurs when it comes to the city of Toronto?
Is the city of Toronto that far left, that woke, that progressive, that this is the template moving forward?
Well, Toronto has always been a very liberal city, and it's really hard to break through as a conservative.
And you saw what happened to Rob Ford when he won and people were so disgusted they wanted change.
You saw how he was harassed by the media from day one.
And, you know, so it is a very liberal city.
It votes liberal.
The downtown Champaign socialists were the ones really that put Olivia Chow in office.
And I fear that things are going to get so bad that people will be crying.
I don't think they've woken up enough yet.
I mean, I don't know if you've been downtown lately, but it's, you know, it's shocking how much the City of Toronto's downtown has deteriorated with drug addicts weaving their way from safe injection sites and storefronts up for lease.
And it just looks tired.
And, well, let's just say that the previous mayor, John Torrey, left it in a terrible state.
And, you know, I don't think the downtown leftists, well, they must not care.
They really must not care how it looks.
They just care about their perks and what they're going to get from Olivia Chow.
You know, I was downtown last night, as a matter of fact, Sue Ann Levy, walking down Young Street, and what a different vibe.
The first thing I noticed, all the fast food restaurants, the Tim Hortons, the subways, they had their dining area and washrooms closed because you open that up and drug users are going to come in and camp out there.
It's terrible.
It's a Toronto that I've never experienced in my life.
But you know what?
And I wonder how ready Olivia Chow is to tackle the problems of Toronto in 2023, especially with rising crime all across the board, at least in all the violent areas.
Sue Ann, I have a good memory.
I remember your column going back to 2014 in the Sunday Sun.
You had interviewed Olivia Chow, and your takeaway was how out of touch she was.
For example, you brought up the issue of what do you think about the Pan Am Games, which was coming to Toronto the following year, 2015.
And she said, the Pan Am what?
She had no idea about this multi-million dollar boondoggle.
So I'm wondering if she's up to snuff on so many of the important files Toronto is facing a decade later, Sue Ann.
No, absolutely not.
I mean, that's an emphatic no.
Nine years later, well, nearly a decade, you could see from her campaign that she wasn't up to snuff on the issues that were affecting the city.
She promised more library hours and, I mean, the bike lanes.
And, you know, to tackle, and it wasn't even to tackle crime, to tackle, because lefties always think that it's stems, the crime stems from mental health issues.
And, you know, it's not the mental health issues, my dear.
It is the drug trade that's fueling the crime.
So she kept talking about she was going to beef up 911, the 911 calling center, and put more social workers out on the street to deal with crime.
So if I have a knife to your throat, Dave, and I'm in the subway and somebody tackles, you know, and I call 911 and a social worker comes, do you think that the criminal is going to care one bit, one bit about, you know, a social worker, social worker has to say to them?
She is completely out of touch.
She doesn't have any fiscal, she's a fiscal illiterate, as far as I'm concerned.
She kept talking about how she was involved on Mel Lassman's budget committee.
Well, Mel Lassman kept her on a very short leash because I was there when she was a counselor back in 2001, two, three, and four.
And she got a few goodies to do her pet projects, but she had no handle on spending.
And, you know, and I don't know how she's going to get rid of the billion-dollar plus deficit that John Torrey left the city.
Oh, I think it's going to swell under her reign, Sue Ann.
And again, I'm begging her to prove me wrong.
But you know, we mentioned how the unions are backing her.
That's a formidable force.
And I noticed a lot of media outlets seem to be on Team Chow.
I kept hearing this narrative: visible minority woman, the daughter of a family that came impoverished to Canada.
What they didn't talk about was in the early 90s.
Do you remember, Sue Ann, how she and her late husband, Jack Layton, were making six-figure salaries, and this is 1990s dollars, and they were living in subsidized housing.
I guess it proves the old adage correct, eh, Sue Ann?
Socialism ain't for the socialists.
Yeah, well, you know, I loved how all the champagne socialists were weighing in about how she's going to change the city.
Well, look, you just have to look at her track record.
And that was just one of many things that I tried to point out, you know, over the course of the campaign.
The fact that she left, she and Jack decidedly and deliberately left more than 100 people living on Home Depot lands in that infamous tent city for three years.
And they got free tents from them.
And then the only reason that got cleared out is because it made the Sunday New York Times and Toronto was embarrassed.
So, you know, look forward to more encampments, Dave.
I'll meet you down.
Say, let's set our watch for two months from now.
We can meet down downtown at one of the many parks where, you know, there will be more encampments.
I mean, I just, I think it's going to be an open season on there's going to be bike lanes.
And I don't think Olivia is that bright.
And I think she's out of touch.
I think her campaign reflected the same messaging she gave 20 years ago, nine years ago.
It didn't change at all.
And I call her, you know, remember David Miller, the NDP mayor that, you know, couldn't get along with the unions and caused us a garbage strike.
I call her David Miller on steroids.
Wow, that's scary for sure.
And by the way, on the subject of Tent City, Sue Ann, I think yours truly had something to do with the demise.
I went undercover as a reporter for the National Post when I was freelancing.
I spent a weekend there.
It was grotesque.
I literally saw rats the size of beavers, and I'm not exaggerating.
What was even more disturbing was at least one couple had brought a new life into the world as residents of this filthy, disgusting tent city.
The piece was published on the weekend on Monday, emergency meeting with the city and Home Depot.
And on Tuesday, the clear out began.
So I'll wear that as a badge of honor.
But yeah, I mean, I think that is indeed what we're in for.
And when we look at some of the other candidates, especially those who veered right, I personally really liked what your former colleague Anthony Fury was campaigning on.
I thought he ran a great campaign.
And I was a little mystified, Sue Ann, that your old newspaper, the Toronto Sun, I think stabbed Fury in the back.
He used to be a national columnist there.
They endorsed Mark Saunders, who finished a distant third, only getting 8.58% of the vote.
Why couldn't the right unite?
And why did the Sun go out of its way to endorse Saunders over Fury, Sue Ann?
Well, you know, that's a great mystery.
I think that probably they thought Saunders had a better chance of winning, but, you know, that wouldn't have been my choice.
And I was actually very upset because, as you know, I worked on his campaign and I was very upset when I saw that.
And, you know, I think Mark Saunders didn't seem to be at all passionate about running for mayor.
He looked like he had been pushed into it.
He stole a lot of Anthony's ideas, particularly about the safe injection sites and more cops on the street and dealing with crime.
He always seemed to be following rather than leading.
And, you know, as to whether the night, the right or the center right would reunite, well, you know, it's all hindsight is all 2020.
But I think I personally was surprised with Anna Bayo's strong showing.
And perhaps if one person, one, maybe Mark Saunders, has thrown his support behind her, we'd be, you know, talking about a different story today.
Well, indeed, that's what the numbers indicate, Sue Anne, that very well could have happened.
And by the way, do you attribute any of Anna Bailau's surprisingly good showing as a second place candidate to John Torrey's endorsement?
Of course, John Torrey said he wasn't going to endorse anybody, and then he again broke his promise.
And of course, it should be said, Sue Ann, one of the biggest losers in this, I think, is John Torrey himself.
He is the reason we had a mayoral by-election.
And my position, Sue Ann, is that the extramarital affair with an office subordinate, that's one thing.
And maybe the public are kind of forgiving about that in this day and age.
But what struck me and struck so many people was the fact that during the last few years, during the COVID hysteria, this was the guy painting social distancing circles on parklands.
This was the guy sending in the mounted unit to shut down small mom-paw restaurants.
This was the guy advocating getting the COVID-19 experimental jab and wearing a face mask and it goes on and on and on.
And meanwhile, this fraud was horizontally jogging with an office subordinate.
You couldn't get any closer to somebody than that, Sue Anne Levy.
To me, that was the real scandal of what he did.
What are your thoughts?
Yeah, and don't forget, three years ago, and I will never forget this, is that I named the squeeze in a story when he snuck off to London, England at the start of COVID.
So, you know, that was going on in March of 2020.
That's when that story appeared.
And I mean, not only with respect to COVID, but the fact that over the years he continually presented himself or played himself or, you know, promoted himself as a family man and, you know, a loving husband and that sort of thing.
I mean, you know, something happens to people when they get in power.
Voters And Priorities00:06:08
They think they're invincible.
So two things.
I think he was a fraud with respect to the pandemic and with respect to his family situation, but also he shouldn't have run again.
He should not have run again in October with all this baggage.
And he's cost the city more than $13 million, but worse than that.
He's cost us Olivia Chow.
That is exactly, and I blame him 100%.
Yeah, no, not to overstay your welcome.
And another promise broken, Sue Ann, I believe he said more than eight years ago he would only stay for two terms and that was it.
So yet again, John Torrey screws up par for the course.
Last question, Sue Ann, this is the big question.
We fast forward three years from now.
It's 2026.
It's the municipal election in Toronto again.
I am wondering if all the doom and gloom comes true regarding Olivia Chow and the swing to the hard left here in the city and the city just becomes decrepit, literally Portland North.
Do you think that will ignite a backlash that one strong center or center-right candidate will emerge and say, I am here to make Toronto great again, and he and his allies will be swept into office?
Or given the progressive leanings of Toronto, is this the template for years and years to come?
Oh, you're depressing me tremendously.
No, I think that the first alternative is probably the best possibility.
But I think what there's a couple of things have to happen.
You know, Anthony Fury was a great candidate, and I would strongly urge him three years from now to consider running if all these things happen.
And I do strongly believe that they will happen.
But I also think that voters have to get out.
Look, only 38% of Torontonians voted.
That's disgusting.
This was a make-or-break election.
And, you know, I don't know.
When I started at City Hall, the voter apathy was terrible.
So now we're talking 20 years later.
It's just as bad, if not worse, with a city in decline.
I mean, what is wrong with people?
Are they too lazy to get off their couch and actually go to the polls?
I mean, we make it so easy now.
They could have mailed in their ballots, advanced polls, you know, that sort of thing.
The apathy is disgusting.
And you know what?
These people will get the government they deserve.
Not you or not me, because I certainly didn't vote for Olivia Chow.
But Sue Ann, you're so right.
In the terms, in the category of winners and losers, the big winner, again, was apathy, voter apathy here.
And that 38% figure, pundits in the media were saying, oh, what a turnout, given the last turnout, which was an even more dismal 29%.
Sue Ann, it's beyond my pay grade why people don't get involved, especially in municipal politics.
These are the people most directly affecting your day-to-day life.
I can go to Young Dundas Square and do a streeter.
I can ask people, who's your city councilor?
Who's your MP?
Who's your MPP?
I'll get a blank stare.
But you ask them, hey, did you hear about Kim Kardassian's new bikini?
Oh, they'll talk chapter and verse till the cows come home on that topic, Sue Anne.
Talk about misplacing your priorities.
But, well, it's going to be a long three years, I'm afraid.
Hopefully there'll be a happy ending with maybe Mr. Fury throwing his hat in again.
Maybe what we saw this month was a dress rehearsal for 2026.
And hopefully all the doom and gloom won't come true, but I am not optimistic.
Sue Ann, thank you so much for your insight.
Greatly appreciated.
Well, folks, lots of feedback regarding Ezra Levent's interview with law professor Bruce Pardee.
Let's get right to those letters.
Marcus Aurelis, 1739, writes, I was told by a provincial court judge that the charter was more of a guideline than law.
The court system is disgusting.
Yeah, I don't think the Charter of Rights is supposed to be suggestions.
I think it's supposed to be binding.
But then again, I never went to law school.
What do I know?
Bob Matt, 1986, writes, democracy in Canada is like saying Trudeau is a good prime minister.
The only place you will find democracy in Canada is in a dictionary.
I think the more appropriate word is communist Canada.
Well, Blackface wouldn't agree with you there, or that might be his wish.
Don't forget, it was 10 years ago, folks, that Justin Trudeau professed his love for the basic dictatorship of China, you know, in terms of getting things done.
Unbelievable.
Bernard Hutchinson, 4753, writes, Issues like Tamara Leaches don't happen all the time, but certainly most of the time since Trudeau has been in totalitarian tyrannical power.
But you know, my friend, that's where the courts should weigh in.
That's when they should be governors.
That's when they should call offside when need be.
But I'm afraid these days, when we call it the justice system, it sounds to me that a better descriptor would be the criminal law system.
Folks Wraps Up Ezra Event Show00:00:13
Well, folks, that wraps up another edition of the Ezra Event Show.
Thanks for tolerating me.
As we head into the long weekend, I want to wish one and all a very happy Dominion Day.